THE NATIONAL VOICE 2016 marks a drop in local works and plays by women

31 March, 2016

Efforts to get more Australian works and plays by women in the nation’s major theatres took a step backwards in 2016, according to new figures just out.The National Voice 2016, a survey of trends in Australian theatre programming, reveals a decline in both areas compared with 2015, the first year the survey was conducted by the Australian Writers’ Guild.Patricia Cornelius, from AWG’s Playwrights’ Committee, which carried out the survey of the 2016 seasons of 10 major Australian theatre companies, says it shows “a marked drop in the programming of Australian content between 2015 and 2016”.“This is clearly a matter of concern for all Australian playwrights, and the increased gender gap denotes an inequitable representation of our strong female voices, from emerging to established,” Cornelius says.“We urge our major companies to lead the charge for Australian works, gender equity and cultural diversity on our stages - to demonstrate that theatre is not a reluctant or belated participant, but at the vanguard of this important and timely national conversation.”The survey analysed the 95 main-stage shows in the 2016 seasons of Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, and Black Swan. Also included are Belvoir, Malthouse, The Ensemble, Griffin and La Boite.Half are by an Australian writer, with an additional six works co-devised original works where no writer is specifically credited, bringing the number of new works by Australian writers or devisors to 56%. Of these 53 works, 34 are original works and 19 are adaptations.The AWG says these figures demonstrate a sharp decline in the programming of work by Australian writers in 2016, compared to 2015 when 63% of shows were by Australian writers.On the issue of gender parity: 2016 reveals an increase in the disparity between the programming of male-authored and female-authored work.In 2015, of the 58 works by Australian playwrights (including original and adapted works), 57% were by men, and 43% by women. In 2016, the comparative percentages are 61% (male) and 39% (female) across all programmed works, both original and adaptations.Cornelius says that while there is a good spread of emerging, established and senior writers whose voices are being heard on our national and international stages, “there is clearly room for increased programing of these voices at home”.THE NATIONAL VOICE 2016 can be downloaded HERE.